Containers for beverages such as milk and juices are conventionally constructed from thermoplastic coated paperboard. One common type of these containers includes a top end closure with a folded gable roof having a vertically projecting sealed fin at the roof ridge for sealing the container. Such containers are shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,940. The bottom end closure for same in conventionally of the infolded type, such as that shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,335.
Another type of container includes a slant top or a flat top end closure wherein what could otherwise be a vertically projecting sealed fin, or a slanted sealed fin, may be folded flat and releasably secured to the rest of the closure. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,869,078 and 4,211,357 disclose such slant and/or flat top closures.
Various techniques have been employed to enhance the folding of a sealed fin in one particular direction to facilitate packing the containers in layers on top of each other to minimize storage and cargo space, without requiring any shipping tray between layers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,715 there is disclosed a top end closure with an inclined sealed fin that includes a "harder crease" on one side thereof than on the other for facilitating folding of the sealed fin from a vertical position to the inclined position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,012,997 and 4,093,115 disclose a container folding method and the container made by the method, wherein one side of the gable panels of the top end closure is provided with double score lines extending parallel to each other. Folding of a sealed top fin of the end closure from a vertical position to a flat position requires the application of a downward force along the lower line of the double score line on one side of the sealed fin and the application of another force against the outside panel to bend the sealed fin downwardly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,867, a wide score line is formed on one side of the gable panels, in lieu of the above mentioned double score lines, with a conventional score line on the opposite side providing unequal fold-back panels on the two sides to facilitate folding the sealed top fin from a vertical position in a direction toward the smaller fold-back panels.
In the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,357, unequal angles at the base of the infolded gable or gusset panels, with or without lower score lines on one side thereof than on the other, enhance folding in the direction of the larger base angles. In an alternative embodiment, a lowered and/or inclined wide score line provide the inclination to slant in one direction.
Still another type of container includes a flat top end closure wherein the sealed fin and features used to enhance flattening included in the above described flat end closures are not required, but wherein a pitcher pour spout is included, with overlapped lift tabs provided for easy opening of the pour spout. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,570.